1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the crimping process network jacks, and more particularly to an improved crimping tool for terminating telecommunications cable conductors in an appropriate receptacle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In installing computer networks, such as Category 5 cable with RJ45 jacks, a jack is installed at the end of the cable. To install a jack, four sets of twisted wire are unwound and placed on specific receiving portions of the jack. These receiving portions comprise sharp scissors-like means which cut the insulation of each wire and allows electrical communication between the jack and the wire.
In the prior art, each wire in a multi-wire cable is typically individually punched into a receiving means with a single wire punch tool. When a wire is punched, the outward portion of the wire is cut off by a sharp portion of the punch tool. There are various drawbacks to using a single wire punch tool. Such punch tools can only terminate one wire at a time and are thus inefficient and time-consuming. There is also a possibility that the punched tool will be disoriented by the user relative to the wire and accidentally cut the wire on the inward side of the jack.
There has been at least one attempt to terminate more than one wire in a jack in a single step. U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,603, discloses a hand-held, manually-operated termination tool for terminating all of the wires of a cable at the same time. Although this design is workable, it has a significant number of limitations. An improved termination tool, such as the present invention, which accomplishes the same task more effectively would be highly desirable.
One embodiment of a crimping tool has a handle lever portion and a crimp portion with a press and a base housing. The base housing has a placement location with a recessed surface for engaging a jack and a recessed region for a cable. The base housing also has lateral regions that have frictionally engaging surface portions for clamping to wire ends. The press has a plunger and a housing with terminating blades for shearing excess wire from the cable when the tool engages a twisted pair cable to a jack.
During the crimping process, a jack is positioned in the base housing and the cable has four twisted pair sets of wires. The wires extend into receiving slots of the jack. After the jack is properly positioned, the terminating process begins when the handle lever portion is operated and the housing engages the base housing to temporarily hold the wires. After the housings engage, the plunger extends through the housing and the blades compress the wires down within the receiving slots of the jack. Further, the blades cut the wires and the excess wire is discarded. The press and the base housing then disengage and the jack is removed from the tool with the cable in communication with the electrical contacts of the jack.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in view of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.